mushrooms

At 6:14 PM 10/3/96 -0700, Hillary Grey Fleenor wrote:
>Many thanks for all the replies on plant dyes. They will be a wonderful
>help. One more question. I am also working on a project that explores
>phototropism in mushrooms. If anyone has any ideas on the best methods
>and the best kinds of mushrooms to grow I would appreciate the info very
>much. Also, any other information about mushrooms would be great, too.
>Thanks so much, a humble NAU student.........hgf at dana.ucc.nau.edu
Here's a thought. I have used Schizophyllum with students
in a gravitropism project. It is not quantitative in any
way but a way to demonstrate the role of gravity in the
morphogenesis of a basidiocarp. I have them subculture
dikaryotic phase mycelium onto potato dextrose agar plates
(poured deeply), place the petri dishes in zip-lok sandwich
bags, then orient the dishes (cover side up, cover side down,
and sideways). Basidiocarps form in about two weeks. It
works very well. I do all of this in the dark, so I don't
know if there is any phototropism involved in how the basidiocarp
is oriented. In any case, this is a species with bilateral
symmetry (when grown vertically in natural position) and
might be a good candidate.
The other thought I had is the orientation of Pilobolus
sporangia. That is an old standard phototropism fungus
lab exercise. In my experience, a pile of horse dung in
a chromatography jar or bell jar covered with foil except
for a 4 cm diam hole for light, gives good results. I
haven't quantified the accuracy, but sporangia are quite
concentrated on the clear glass and very few "miss".
ross
______________________________________________________________
|
Ross Koning | Koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | Phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA | Fax: 860-465-5213
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Plant Physiology is Phun!
/\|___/\ //\______COOH NH-CH2-CH=C-CH2OH \/OH
| | | | | | || //\___ \CH3 /\|/\\/\\COOH
\/ \/|\/| \\/ \ / N || N | |
/\ | |__|= NH | || || //\//\
| COOH \\ /\ / O
COOH H2C=CH2 N NH
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